During the evening match on the first day, the reception for Team ATB formed a stark contrast to other teams. In the afternoon, the attendance rate at the venue was only about 60%. But in the evening, the venue was packed with a sea of people; not a single seat was empty. Fans held up massive amounts of posters and glow signs, and the cheering and shouting almost pierced the clouds.
Team ATB lived up to their fans' expectations, cleanly defeating Japan's MOK team 2:0. The fans at the scene screamed excitedly, and the Korean media released a pile of press releases praising ATB's performance.
Headlines like "Choi Hyuk and Park Won-seok, World's No. 1 Mid-Jungle," "Han Seung-woo is the World's Strongest Top Laner," and so on were everywhere.
Fans were also reposting and celebrating everywhere, as if ATB had already won the championship.
After the first day's matches, the group points were tallied, and Tianhuan temporarily ranked first in Group C.
The next day, Tianhuan had a bye.
Everyone followed the coach to the hotel conference room, watching the matches while listening to the coach's commentary.
In Group A, Beimu faced FNO, the champion team from the North American region, and unfortunately lost 1:2. Mitchell and Sean, two world-class mid-laners, knew each other privately. In a critical team fight, Mitchell seized the opportunity to delete Sean. Ye Shaoyang noticed that since the World Individual Tournament, Mitchell's strength had noticeably improved again.
The bot lane duo of Allen and Angus, two young teenagers, had improved rapidly and were on par with Cheng Xing. After experiencing a whole season of beatings and tempering, they were no longer the kids who were beaten to tears by Ye Shaoyang and Chi Shu on the international server.
In Group B, Jingzhe faced the European champion team AMT. Although Fang Zhengqing and Xie Yuan joined forces to execute many brilliant plays and leveled the score to 1:1, in the final deciding game, the jungler Vanessa seized an opportunity to ambush and steal the Baron, reversing the situation.
Coach Lin commented, "Although Vanessa is a rookie, her playstyle is very fierce. Her master used to be the No. 1 jungler in the European region. AMT is indeed the strongest dark horse in the European region. Jingzhe's loss is a pity."
Chi Shu said calmly, "Jingzhe's dual carries are very strong, but their jungler's strength is average. Once the jungle collapses, it's hard to salvage the situation."
Surprisingly, in Group D, Yueying actually defeated the European runner-up team HER.
Yueying seemed very good at reversing situations in deciding games. Previously in domestic competitions, they had defeated Beimu in a deciding game. This time against HER, Xie Weiyu and Xu Zhuo coordinated tacitly. Old Xu flashed to cut the opposing marksman, and Xie Weiyu flashed in the opposite direction to escape. Consequently, the surviving Xie Weiyu dealt earth-shattering damage, wiping out HER.
After the first round of matches, opinions varied domestically.
From the current grouping situation, Tianhuan was in the most favorable position in the group stage; their three opponents weren't particularly strong. Jingzhe was in the most miserable state. In the group stage, they ran into FLD (North American runner-up), AMT (European champion), and TIP (Korean runner-up). It would be incredibly difficult for Jingzhe to qualify.
A domestic expert predicted: "With 4 teams from the China region going to the World Tournament, I predict Beimu and Tianhuan can make it to the Top 8, while Jingzhe and Yueying will be eliminated in the group stage."
This blogger had tens of millions of followers and was said to be an overseas Chinese with the Weibo name "Toxic Milk" (Jinx). Every year during the World Tournament, he would predict the results, and his predictions were very accurate.
After Beimu and Jingzhe lost in the first round, a new streamer who had just emerged recently publicly ridiculed: "Players from the China region only know how to infight. Going to the World Tournament, they just deliver heads one after another. Truly shameful!"
Seeing this hot search, netizens retorted one after another: "Here comes Brother A-Yu's successor?" "The last streamer [Brother A-Yu] who ridiculed professional players like this, I remember he was hammered by Xiao Bai until he almost quit the circle?" "At least others have the ability to participate in the World Tournament; you only know how to spray (flame) online!"
The new streamer discovered that the method of attracting traffic by flaming professional players didn't seem to work anymore? Clicking into the profiles of the netizens who were particularly fierce in the comments section… they were all damn Ye Shaoyang fans?
Sure enough, after [Brother A-Yu] was hammered by streamer Xiao Bai back then, the path of streamers flaming professional players became hard to walk. The new streamer was scolded until his face was covered in dirt and cowardly deleted his Weibo.
When players went out for competitions, the team manager would confiscate their phones to prevent them from being influenced by outside public opinion. Ye Shaoyang and the others had no idea how the domestic audience evaluated them; they still had to face even more tense matches.
In the second round of the group stage, Tianhuan encountered Team YNF from Africa.
This match was still an easy 2:0 victory.
The e-sports level of the African region was similar to the domestic secondary league. When Tianhuan played them, they didn't even need to use particularly powerful lineups; they could win just by treating it as a scrim.
With two consecutive 2:0 victories, regardless of winning or losing the third match, Tianhuan had locked in a spot to qualify from the group ahead of time, successfully advancing to the Top 8.
Korean media: "Tianhuan in Group C is the team with the best luck in grouping; they can qualify while lying down."
Korean netizens commented one after another: "They definitely aren't a match for ATB, right? We have the world's strongest Mid-Jungle synergy." "Can't go far relying on luck. Heard Tianhuan has an Individual Tournament champion? At most, they'll make it to the Top 4."
"Tianhuan Lieyang could win the Individual Tournament championship because our Oppas Choi and Park didn't participate in the individual competition, letting him pick up a free win."
Someone who understood Korean reposted the comments from the Korean internet to China, causing dissatisfaction among a large number of fans.
What do you mean qualifying while lying down?
What do you mean Lieyang's Individual Tournament championship was a free pick-up?
Tianhuan fans and Ye Shaoyang's fans were furious. They rolled up their sleeves and went to Korean websites to spam emojis.
The result was that a certain sarcastic Korean website was drowned in ^_^ emojis.
Koreans were confused: "??"
Regardless of the outside debate, the mentality of the Tianhuan players remained stable.
Coach Lin was most worried that Cheng Xing would have problems. Fortunately, after the double baptism of the World Individual Tournament and the Domestic Grand Finals, Xiao Xing's psychological quality had also stepped up to a new level. During the group stage, Cheng Xing wasn't nervous at all and performed remarkably well.
Only then did Coach Lin completely relax.
In the third round of the group stage, the most crucial match began on December 12th.
Tianhuan faced Japan's GOW team in the group stage.
The captain of this team, Fujita Naoya, whose signature hero was [Ninja], was once Japan's No. 1 Jungler. Chi Shu had met him when participating in the S6 World Tournament. At that time, he was already very famous and had debuted even earlier than Chi Shu. It was heard that he would retire after S10; this should be his last tournament.
Chi Shu leaned close to Ye Shaoyang's ear and said, "Fujita's playstyle is very calm. We met him on the international server back then, remember?" Ye Shaoyang nodded. "Remember. His [Ninja] is indeed played very well."
Coach Lin said, "GOW has a typical Wild Core playstyle. Against this team, we won't ban Junglers. Let out all of Fujita's jungle heroes. The coaching staff has two plans: one is for Chi Shu to also pick a Wild Core and PK with Fujita head-on; the second is for Chi Shu to take a utility hero and let Yangyang drive the tempo, hitting their mid lane first. What do you guys think?"
Chi Shu said, "I'll choose Wild Core."
Ye Shaoyang didn't hesitate: "Take Wild Core."
The two spoke almost simultaneously, looked at each other, and smiled tacitly.
Ye Shaoyang said, "I believe Captain Chi's Wild Core isn't afraid of Japan's Wild Core team at all. Let's just face the difficulties head-on; there's no need to avoid their edge."
The current Tianhuan indeed had the strength and confidence to "face difficulties head-on."
This was also Tianhuan's usual "stubborn" style.
At 4 PM on December 12th, the last match of Group C, Tianhuan vs. GOW.
In the first game, GOW targeted the Mid lane crazily during the BP phase. Tianhuan banned two supports, leaving all Junglers open. Commentator Yao Mu couldn't help but say, "GOW is a typical Wild Core team. Tianhuan leaving the Jungle position open in the BP phase—is this a rhythm of choosing a Wild Core to fight head-on?"
Brother Dong said, "Anyway, Tianhuan is confirmed to qualify from the group. It doesn't hurt to gamble once."
Fujita took his signature hero [Ninja], and Chi Shu indeed took [Stealth Rogue].
The clash of two Wild Cores made the jungle rhythm incredibly fast.
Early game invasions and counter-invasions were fought extremely fiercely; the Blue Buff was reset three times.
Neither jungler wanted to give up the river crab, but in the end, Chi Shu snatched the first one. His coordination with Ye Shaoyang was clearly more tacit than that of the Japanese GOW team's Mid-Jungle duo.
For the first ambush at Level 6, Fujita chose to camp mid, wanting to sneak attack and kill Ye Shaoyang; Chi Shu went to camp bot, coordinating with Xiao Xing and Qu Jiang to kill the opposing marksman.
Ye Shaoyang had a keen sense of smell. At the exact same time [Ninja]'s Shadow Clone appeared, he decisively pressed Flash!
Yao Mu said excitedly, "Beautiful! Yangyang reacted too fast. [Ninja]'s follow-up attack was out of range and couldn't burst him!"
Brother Dong said, "After all, Captain Chi plays [Ninja] very well. Yangyang is very familiar with this hero's rhythm and guessed the opposing jungler might come to camp him, keeping vigilant at all times."
Ye Shaoyang flashed away with a sliver of health, and GOW's jungler failed his first ambush; Chi Shu got First Blood in his first gank, and Xiao Xing and Qu Jiang both received assist rewards.
It was this tiny difference that Chi Shu utilized to snowball frantically and invade the jungle.
GOW's defense was very tenacious.
But at 15 minutes into the game, Chi Shu suddenly roamed with Ye Shaoyang, coordinating with Old Qin to unexpectedly kill GOW's Top laner and push down the top tower!
It was thought that Tianhuan, having gained an advantage in the bot lane, would target the bot lane. As a result, they roamed flexibly and did the opposite, breaking through the top lane first.
GOW's top-side jungle fell completely.
Chi Shu, having secured the Red Buff, began sticking to people and fighting. Stealthing to flank, he deleted the opposing Mid laner. Teammates immediately gathered mid and pushed down the mid tower.
Tianhuan's rhythm became smoother and smoother.
At 20 minutes, Chi Shu gathered his teammates to take the Baron and pushed down the crystal in one wave.
In the BP of the second game, both sides still left the Junglers open.
Fujita chose the Wild Core [King of Fighters]. Chi Shu took [Sword Immortal]. This hero was very squishy early on; if he didn't farm up, he was useless. Moreover, he had to accumulate ultimate buffs by farming small monsters, making the operation extremely difficult.
Chi Shu had used [Sword Immortal] in domestic matches, but not many times, because it was too easily targeted in the early game.
So this game, Ye Shaoyang took [Holy Spirit Mage] to personally escort Chi Shu.
GOW started aggressively, running over to steal Blue. Chi Shu and Ye Shaoyang defended the jungle together. At a critical moment, Ye Shaoyang shielded Chi Shu, allowing him to escape with a sliver of health. Although the opponent stole 3 buffs this game and Chi Shu only got 1, affecting his early development.
Thus, Ye Shaoyang yielded a wave of minions to him, and Old Qin top also yielded a wave.
Xiao Xing and Qu Jiang farmed wretchedly bot, giving the opposing jungler no chance to cut Xiao Xing.
With the diligent assistance of his teammates, Chi Shu smoothly passed the farming period and began to roam and drive the rhythm.
When Ye Shaoyang hit Level 6 and the opponent positioned slightly forward, he decisively flashed over with [Holy Spirit Mage] and sealed the opposing Mid laner. Almost at the same time, a white shadow darted out from the grass, instantly deleting GOW's Mid laner, then vanished—coming and going without a trace, ethereal as an immortal!
Their coordination was like taking a general's head from a thousand miles away and retreating unscathed.
Yao Mu said excitedly, "Familiar Mid-Jungle synergy! Shuoyue and Lieyang's skill synchronization is still so tacit. This sudden gank in the mid lane was too beautiful!"
Brother Dong said, "Fujita is bot. He wanted to kill Xiao Xing, but unfortunately, Qu Jiang blocked the key damage. Fujita got Qu Jiang's head. Our Support traded for the opposing Mid laner; Tianhuan still profited from this wave!"
Next, Ye Shaoyang and Chi Shu began to roam frequently, gradually controlling the game's rhythm.
Ye Shaoyang sealed one, Chi Shu killed one.
Wherever they went, they killed; it was simply a Great Demon King patrol.
Their skill synchronization was like one person operating.
Fujita was undoubtedly an excellent player, but he was indeed old. In a critical team fight, his reaction couldn't keep up. Chi Shu flanked to kill the opposing marksman. When Fujita wanted to flank, Cheng Xing had already flashed and run away.
Tianhuan won the team fight 5v4 and ended the game smoothly.
2:0, Tianhuan defeated GOW.
Tianhuan's 5 members stood up to shake hands with the opposing team.
Fujita stood up, held Chi Shu's hand, and sighed with emotion, "MOON, you are very amazing. Maintaining your S6 form for so many years, and you are calmer than back then."
Chi Shu said politely, "You are also very strong."
Fujita smiled and said, "I'm retiring. This stage has always belonged to the young."
Chi Shu listened to his words with mixed feelings.
E-sports was indeed an industry for the young. Reactions would slow down with age, and in fierce competitions, even a 0.1-second error could affect the battle situation.
One day, he would also retire.
But he hoped that when that time came, it would be a retirement without regrets.
He would fight alongside Yangyang until the last moment, then leave this beloved arena with Yangyang.
Chi Shu and Ye Shaoyang exchanged a glance, stepped forward, and gave Fujita, the veteran player who had persisted in competing for 6 years, a friendly farewell hug.
At the competition venue, the information that Tianhuan qualified as first in the group was displayed on the public screen.
Domestic spectators were jubilant, and the livestream room was spammed with "Tianhuan Awesome" bullet comments.
[Watching Tianhuan's matches is really satisfying; they play every game with special confidence!]
[Never hesitating during team fights, engaging when they should, retreating when they should. The 5 people coordinate tacitly, unlike some teams that are sticky and make people anxious.]
[Tianhuan in the World Tournament is already a very comprehensive team with no weaknesses.]
[Tianhuan Add Oil, charge!]
Yao Mu smiled and said, "Congratulations to Tianhuan for three consecutive 2:0 victories in the group stage, advancing to the Top 8 with a complete victory record!"
Brother Dong said, "Media in certain countries said our Tianhuan team had too much luck with the grouping this time. Actually, luck is also a kind of strength. Only teams with strength can grasp good luck!"
Yao Mu said, "That's right. Opportunities are only given to those who are prepared. In the upcoming knockout stage, hope Tianhuan makes persistent efforts and achieves good results!"
The final result of Group C: Tianhuan 1st place, GOW 2nd place, obtaining qualification.
Compared to the "no suspense" of Group C, the competition in other groups became exceptionally fierce.
Group A: The US champion team FNO won three consecutive victories, qualifying as first in the group. But Beimu and Korea's TOC both had a record of 1 win and 1 loss. The duel between the two teams would determine the final qualifying list.
Ye Shaoyang also went to the scene to watch this match. The battle situation was deadlocked in the early stage. Fortunately, Beimu was very good at seizing opportunities. Big and Little Zhao cut TOC's mage and marksman in a team fight, and Sean solo-killed the opposing mid laner. Beimu ended the match cleanly 2:0, advancing to the Top 8.
Group B: Jingzhe faced strong enemies on all sides and was unfortunately eliminated as third in the group. Qualifying were Korea's runner-up TIP and Europe's champion AMT.
Group D: The Korean champion team ATB undoubtedly qualified with a complete victory record. Choi Hyuk and Park Won-seok performed brilliantly, each getting a quadra kill. Europe's HER qualified as second.
The Top 8 list was confirmed. The China, Korean, and European regions each had two teams advancing; North America and Japan each had one team advancing. Jingzhe and Yueying were eliminated after the group stage of the World Tournament.
The blogger "Toxic Milk," who previously predicted Tianhuan and Beimu would advance to the Top 8 while Yueying and Jingzhe would be eliminated, posted on Weibo: "My prediction still has a very scientific basis. Jingzhe was very unlucky this time, placed in the Group of Death; qualifying was as hard as ascending to heaven. Yueying's Top and Marksman are strong, but Jungle and Mid still need work. The teams in Group D all have very strong Mid-Jungle duos, so their elimination was also expected."
Netizens commented one after another: "Blogger, predict the result of the 8-into-4 round!"
Toxic Milk stated: "Tianhuan is Group C 1st, playing Group D 2nd, Europe's HER. The odds of winning are high. Beimu is Group A 2nd, playing Group B 1st, Europe's AMT. But don't forget Sean also comes from Europe and understands the habits of European teams very well. Beimu's dual side lanes are very strong; it won't be that easy for Vanessa to cut Zhao Xinping. The duel between two world-class female Alpha players is very worth looking forward to. Personally, I favor Beimu more; after all, Sister Xinping has more experience than Vanessa."
A netizen left a message asking: "Then do you think Tianhuan has a chance to win the championship?"
Toxic Milk replied: "Tianhuan, I estimate the best result is runner-up. ATB is truly too strong. The 5 players of last season's champion team haven't changed. Tianhuan's Lieyang and Fan Xing are both rookies who debuted this season, lacking tournament experience. The probability of defeating ATB is not high."
But Tianhuan's fans were still full of hope.
After all, Tianhuan was a team that often created miracles.
Moreover, Lieyang wasn't an ordinary rookie.
He was the Mid-lane Demon King who achieved a pentakill in his debut game and ended the Grand Finals with a pentakill; he was the winner of the S10 MVP Award and the World Individual Champion.
Predicting such a player based on rookie standards—wasn't that underestimating him too much?
After returning to the hotel, Ye Shaoyang saw the groups from Yueying and Jingzhe in the lobby. Jingzhe and Yueying's journey in the World Tournament had ended early, and everyone had mixed feelings.
Ye Shaoyang walked up and hugged Xie Weiyu tightly.
Xie Weiyu smiled and said, "It's okay. We'll just treat it as an overseas trip and gaining tournament experience."
Ye Shaoyang patted his shoulder and asked, "When do you return to China?"
Xie Weiyu and Xu Zhuo looked at each other. Old Xu laughed, "Not going back for now. The season is over anyway, nothing to do back home. We might as well stay and be sparring partners for you guys."
Xie Weiyu nodded. "Mn. Your next opponent is HER. We had contact with them in the group stage. They are from Germany, and their tactics are quite unique. I discussed it with Brother Xu and also asked for the coach's consent. We'll stay and play scrims with Tianhuan, helping you guys and improving ourselves at the same time."
Beside them, Fang Zhengqing leaned over and said, "Coincidentally, we're staying a few more days too. Let's just train together."
Ye Shaoyang felt warm inside and looked at them. "Thank you."
Xie Yuan smiled and said, "No need to thank us. We require payment for being sparring partners too."
Chi Shu looked at him and said, "Don't worry, I'll cover your food expenses for the next half year. Help you gain ten pounds."
Xie Yuan: "…Is that revenge or remuneration?"
The group around them burst into laughter.
Fang Zhengqing gently patted Chi Shu's shoulder and said, "Although you and I never had tacit understanding, this time, I'm optimistic about you guys. Add oil."
Xie Weiyu also said to Ye Shaoyang, "Yangyang is the handsomest Omega in my heart. You can definitely crush Korea's Park Won-seok. We will stay until the day of the Grand Finals and go to the scene personally to cheer for you."
Ye Shaoyang and Chi Shu exchanged a glance.
On the road to realizing their dreams, they had many opponents, but also many friends. It was fortunate that so many friends were willing to stay and help them in this World Tournament.
There could only be one champion in the end; someone was destined to be eliminated early. However, those eliminated didn't harbor resentment. Instead, they were willing to stay and accompany the run, cheering for those still on the field.
If Tianhuan could reach the finish line, that would also be the glory of the entire China Region.